Waste containers are commonly used to store rubbish until they can be emptied and their contents hauled away by a garbage truck or other waste-collection vehicle. Such waste containers include large-scale mechanized equipment (such as compactors, balers, etc.) and non-mechanized units (dumpsters, open-tops, recycling containers, etc.). These waste containers are commonly used at many types of sites, such as industrial facilities, commercial buildings, apartment buildings, construction sites, and so forth. And these waste containers are commonly used to store all types of waste, including corrugated cardboard; paper; objects or scraps of plastic, nonferrous metals (e.g., aluminum), glass, and/or other recyclable materials; food waste; yard waste; building-material waste; and other dry and wet waste.
There are tremendous monies associated with the disposal and/or selling of the waste (recyclable and non-recyclable) materials. For some situations, the weight of the waste material is used to determine disposal fees or selling prices (e.g., by haulers as well as by landfills or recyclers). And for some situations, there are “tipping” charges for regularly scheduled (e.g., weekly) emptying of the waste containers. So systems have been developed in an effort to determine the weight of the waste and/or the fullness of the waste container to thereby provide more transparency in these financial transactions (disposal and/or selling), to avoid excessive tipping charges (from premature emptying), and/or to avoid fines for weight overages when hauling away. However, known measuring systems have drawbacks, for example weight measurements that can be insufficiently accurate (estimates converted from fullness measurements), external components and attachment positions that can cause interference issues, limited retrofit capabilities, and/or too-high costs.
Accordingly, it can be seen that needs exist for better ways of measuring waste in waste containers. It is to the provision of solutions to this and other problems that the present invention is primarily directed.